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Apollo 8 Astronaut Re-Creates 1968 Christmas Broadcast To Earth
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "AP reports that standing by a part of the Apollo 8 spacecraft he once rode, retired astronaut James Lovell read the 1968 Christmastime broadcast from the day he and two others became the first humans to orbit the moon marking the 45th anniversary of the orbit and the famous broadcast. 'The idea of bringing people together by a flight to the moon where we encompassed everybody in our thoughts is still very valid today,' says Lovell. 'The words that we read are very appropriate.' Millions tuned in on Dec. 24, 1968, when Frank Borman, Bill Anders and Lovell circled the moon. A television camera on board took footage of the crater-filled surface as the astronauts read Bible verses describing the creation of Earth. They circled 10 times and began reading from the Book of Genesis on the last orbit. 'It's a foundation of Christianity, Judaism and Islam,' Lovell said of choosing Genesis. 'It is the foundation of most of the world's religions. ... They all had that basis of the Old Testament.' Lovell says at the time the astronauts weren't sure who would be listening and how the broadcast would be taken. The famous "Earthrise" photo was also taken during the mission. Lovell closed with the same message the astronauts did in 1968. 'From the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas and God bless all of you, all of you on the good Earth.'"
The book of Genesis is certainly not the foundation of most of the world's religions. There are hundreds of religions with more than a million followers each. In demographic terms it may be closer, with followers of Abrahamic religions making up close to half of the world population. However there are billions adhering to other faiths, especially Hinduism and Buddhism.
Yeah, like back before some oil guy handed the NSA NASA's budget for the oil wa.. err ah.. war on terrorism. Yeah, like back when we still had a space program.
Pew Research report: "The Global Religious Landscape", with global numerical breakdowns.
Did they orbit the Moon again?
Would have been exciting to be around back when Sputnik took off or men orbited or landed on the moon.
Wonder how long it will be until another major leap for humanity.
Perhaps the Wright Brothers achieving flight or Columbus discovering the New World fits in that category.
These days, we have to settle for technological achievements like the start of the world wide web or the launch of the iPhone --- maybe New Horizons flying past Pluto will be a bit of a "first ever" moment for humanity here in a bit over a year.
Priest: "Universe from nothing, no laws of physics, sped up time"+ huge discrepancies. Creationism? No. Big Bang Theory
Happy Grav-Mass!
Why not celebrate comprehensible laws of physics that got your astronaut asses to the damn Moon by honoring Isaac Newton? You know, someone who was actually born on December 25th?
Wrong. A third are Christian, a third are Muslim, half of the rest are other religions such as Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism. You atheists and antitheists only make up 10% of everyone (the rest are agnostic).
Free Martian Whores!
You can ask many a thirtysomething and younger nowadays, and even some fourtysomething, "Did humans
walk on the moon in your lifetime" and most will know the answer and some will respond "Did they ever?".
Yet these are the millions going down the street heads down, ears cupped, submerged into their own lives (and
thousands of so called 'friends' waiting to hear if the corner they rounded just now was to the left or right), these
lives totally and entirely framed within some 4x3 illumination.
Religion of ALL kinds harms humanity far more than helps it.
That's an unfalsifiable claim, but I can try.
The religious impulse seems to be an evolutionary adaption. Lots of "atheists" still exhibit other forms of faith like an implicit trust in ideologies like libertarianism, democracy, science, etc.
I'm not saying those things are automatically religious, far from it. I'm saying that a lot of people are less than skeptical of them in the same way that 'religious' people are less than skeptical of their belief systems. At some point you have to put your trust in something because there just aren't enough hours in the day to verify everything from first principles. But even so, a lot of people go beyond trust as a matter of expediency and are unwilling to consider the possibility for error in the same way that religious people are often unwilling to question doctrine.
So, if this religious impulse is such a wide-spread evolutionary adaption then it stands to reason that it has a net positive value to the human species.
But when it's cold, food is scarce and everything seems to be fighting to live, even some wild animals share what is available. Merry Christmas everyone.
Well, I've looked out the window, and it's none of those things. The sun is shining, it's hot, the grass is green and I think I might go for a swim. Oh, and by the way, it's also tomorrow.
You hemispherist, you.
Now go dig out some of the cool stuff NASA did before we started funding useless wars for no gain instead.
You do realize that the US Apollo missions to the moon occurred concurrently with the US involvement with the Vietnam war, when military spending took twice the relative bite out of the economy as it does today? Maybe not.
You should also be clear about how the spending of Federal tax dollars has changed over the years. (Don't like the source? Find another one, it won't really change if the numbers are honest*.)
* Honest Federal spending will include both "mandatory" and "discretionary" spending. Some sites mislead by excluding mandatory spending to distort the burden of social welfare spending versus defense spending.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
Sorry, you are wrong. The problem is that no accurate statistics exist and it is difficult to even ask people. For example "Jew" is both a race and religious identify. Most parents will state that their children share their religion on census forms even if they are too young to understand it or simply don't believe.
For example in the UK something like 65% of people put Christian on their census forms (or more likely had it put for them by the head of the household). Even so church attendance is about 5%, so it seems like the vast majority are not active members of their religion.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
If you're talking about the number of sects and splinter groups, then maybe "It is the foundation of most of the world's religions. ... They all had that basis of the Old Testament." But if you're talking about the population of believers, the Hindus and Buddhists might have a thing or two to say about that.
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
Are we still at war?
Yep. After the landing the following year, not much happened, except TV sets don't weigh so much anymore..
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
It doesn't really matter.
MYTHS AND MISINFORMATION ABOUT SOCIAL SECURITY- Part 2
Starting in 1969 (due to action by the Johnson Administration in 1968) the transactions to the Trust Fund were included in what is known as the "unified budget." This means that every function of the federal government is included in a single budget. This is sometimes described by saying that the Social Security Trust Funds are "on-budget." This budget treatment of the Social Security Trust Fund continued until 1990 when the Trust Funds were again taken "off-budget." This means only that they are shown as a separate account in the federal budget. But whether the Trust Funds are "on-budget" or "off-budget" is primarily a question of accounting practices--it has no effect on the actual operations of the Trust Fund itself.
RL33028: Social Security: The Trust Fund
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
Religion in the UK is usually a much more private matter than in the US. Most of our believers do not feel the need to proclaim it from the rooftops as is a common practice in the US.
Depends on definitions. Speak to much of europe and you'll find a lot of people, a majority in some countries, who insist they are Christians very strongly - yet they don't go to church, don't factor the religion into any decision they make, have never done more than skim a few verses of the bible and can't state the most fundamental precepts of the faith if questioned. Do you call them Christian or not? Most surveys work based on self-identification. I don't know what the situation is like in other regions of the world, but I expect there is something of a similiar effect. Except perhaps for Islam - their frequent public rituals would make it rather hard to be a muslim without at least going through all the appropriate motions, especially in countries where failure to comply would result in conseqences ranging from social exclusion and loss of employment to execution.
Lumping all religions together and then assigning blame to "religion" for many discreet misdeeds committed by practitioners of various religions is like lumping together all secular thought and then blaming "secularism" for all non-religious bad acts. Sorry, but physics is not responsible for what some 1930's Germans did with phrenology, and Chemistry is not at fault for Stalin's massacres. Catholics are not responsible for human sacrifices by the Aztecs, Protestant Christians are entirely blameless for both the Crusades and the Inquisition.
WHAT somebody believes and what ACTIONS that person takes as a result are FAR more important than whether or not a person HAS beliefs.... and that goes just as much for religious beliefs as for non-religious beliefs. You might like to slime "religion" but those same religious people have done more to feed, heal, clothe, and educate people than any atheist groups have ever done.
Oh, and while the Apollo missions were great scientific and technical accomplishments, most of the people involved where Christians and/or Jews and the overall endeavor was a fantastic HUMAN achievement that also involved the human spirit, philosophy, art, culture, etc
"Religion has nothing whatsoever to do with evolution."
I think it has.
- people have a greater chance of survival if they cooperate. If there is a further possible bond (apart from being family), than that can help.
- it can also help against power. Suppose the chief of your clan is a grumpy strong man. You could lose your life. But if you tell him that you're in contact with higher powers that will punish him if he doesn't alter his behavior, then that can help you survive.
- it made for good stories in a time without internet. What have you been doing today? Herding the goats. Oh. Well, let me tell you a story (in the bible, there's a story about a well that was sealed off with a rock that required three people to move it. Or a bald guy who was yelled at by kids and bears came out of the wood and killed the kids. What do you think: It is something that god really wanted to tell us or was a good story at the campfire?).
So, while only my hypothesis, I think that there may well be a genetic component to religion/the ease with which humans can be deluded.
Bert